Metal Mouth Message Board

Always feel frustrated smiling with my heavy metal braces.
they feel bulky and ugly I have been told. Very heavy indeed in my mouth. Feel like having 2 rows of teeth. Any reactions on your side ?
Thanks

Laurent

well i will tell you rhis since janurary 2 when i got mine on all metal and silver ligs it just seems that i cannot stop smiling and even talking my lips just cannot fully close yet. i feel that there is a big sign on my face NEW METAL MOUTH FACE HERE LOOKS ARE FREE! good luck with yours. i have had olny .005 percent pain so far.

louis

Thank you Louis. Good to read your opinion ! Incredible difference !!

I smile really really big now that I have my metal braces. Of course if I smile half way my lips get stuck on the brackets and then I have that really weird shaped smile, as well as the problem of how to get my lips off the brackets without looking like I am trying to unsick them because that would be most unatrative. Keep your sense of humor Laurent and don't let ANYONE tell you your braces are ugly - we all know better!

Thing I laugh about is before braces I "NEVER" Smiled, and now that I have had braces for over 3 months I'm smilieing every second I have a chance to just strange. At first I was like I don't want to smile I don't like people stareing but then out of no where I started smileing and could not STOP!

SDFD TSchott

They are a little bulky yes, but it's never stopped me smiling I wouldn't pay too much attention to those ignorant people who tell you braces look ugly.

They will have much fewer negative comments to make once the braces are off and they see what beautiful teeth you have!

Hi Laurent,

Welcome to this board! Yes, I agree metal braces are ugly, I have them myself and I hate the way they look. But they do wonders to the teeth/bite, and it's all for the better.

According to a study, when people look at your face, the firs thing they notice are the "white" elements : the white of the eyes and of the teeth, then, in decreasing order, the smile, the lips, the eyes and finally the nose. Here is the article (unfortunately it's in French):
http://www.sds-news.com/public/news/arc ... etique.htm

Good luck with your journey, and remember, you'll have a gorgeous smile at the end!

I haven't had any issues about smiling. I'm not really caring about who sees my braces. My biggest smiling issue is that I literally can't stop smiling. My lips get hung up on those little hooks on my upper canine brackets. Oh well. It just provides some comic relief to all involved, which makes us all laugh, and then I have the same problem all over again...

According to a study, when people look at your face, the firs thing they notice are the "white" elements : the white of the eyes and of the teeth, then, in decreasing order, the smile, the lips, the eyes and finally the nose.

...finally the nose.
Wow! My nose is crooked and my nostrils are different size and shape.
Almost nobody notices it. Just after i tell them they see it

I also agree that braces are ugly XD but hey there isn't much point in complaining about the aesthetics. I figure I can waste my time being negative about many other things, like humanity and dirty bathrooms. As for smiling, I definitely wide-smile a lot more now just because of the lips-getting-caught-on-braces thing that other people have mentioned. It is just uncomfortable to try smiling halfway :\ besides, it doesn't matter much for me because I have a habit of covering my mouth with a hand when I laugh, just as a mannerism thing. I've been doing that forever, and I see no reason to quit.

I don't know if it's an age thing that some people hate the look of their braces. I just turned 37 and had severe ,severe crowding on uppers and lowers. Finally when I noticed a significant amount of alignment I just started smiling more,I mean BIG smiles. I feel that if I try to cover them up with my lips then they look even more bigger. My kids will actually have keepsake pictures of me in albums now! I was in about 10% of all pictures,maybe less.

Gennel

Oh, man, I can relate to all of you! I smile a lot, too, and get my upper lip hung up on the brackets. Add to that, my upper arch is very wide, the braces are there to make the arch more narrow. My canine teeth brackets actually push my lips out even more at the corners!

I just try to take matters as they come and to remember my teeth will be aligned properly once I'm done with the braces. If other people want to make comments, it's their problem not mine! I'm old enough that I don't worry about what other folks think about my braces. LOL!

Jembrace

I try to do my best and smile whenever i can....it's just when i meet new people that i get very self conscious and so i try to hide them....i feel such a geek anyway, cuz even if i actually get to hide them, i think anybody can tell i'm trying to hide something LOL. I try to do my best but it's just unconscious i guess. I will improve LOL